A High Throughput Screening Platform for Skin Tuning Properties from Natural Products: Identification of Skin Tanning Compounds

Abstract

Skin lightening and tanning are two major areas dominating the market of skincare and cosmetic products. Though the demands are originated from two different communities, the two areas share a same goal—skin colour tuning. The known safe compounds with skin colour tuning activities are limited. In contrary, Chinese medicinal herb provides a pool of natural bioactive compounds, which have been used in Asian countries for long time and have been tested for its toxicity. Here, we demonstrate a high throughput screening platform for potential compounds usable for skin colour tuning. From 147 natural compounds, 26 of them showed potential in skin tanning functions by using the high throughput melanogenesis platform based on the melanogenesis assay on B16 melanocytes. Five of them promoted melanogenesis by over 50%. Moreover, apart from 1, 8-dihydroxyanthraquinone, the other four compounds showed enhancement effect on tyrosinase activity. From the result, the compounds increased the Vmax of tyrosinase without changing the Km in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, there should be no irreversible structural change of the enzyme. Definitely, this report contributes to the development of personalization in skincare and cosmetic products.